Famed designer creates Ford F-150 hot-rod

June 25, 2007|By TIM SPELLMotor Matters

Ford Motor Co. recently unveiled the 2008 F-150 Foose Edition, a show-and-go hot rod, dressed to cruise the boulevard. It stands out among other trucks with a design created by Chip Foose, celebrated custom-car guru and host of TV's "Overhaulin.'" Fitting Ford's style, Foose creations aren't too "Pimp My Ride," said Ben Poore, Ford truck group marketing manager. Foose is more minimalist in his styling and likes to show a truck's natural lines, Poore said. Foose's designs appeal to a wide range of consumers. "If you look at who is on his show, there's a cross section of America." It was a lot like being a guest on "Overhaulin'" when Poore sat down to talk with Foose about creating the F-150 Foose Edition, based on the F-150 FX2 Sport. This meeting was at the 2006 Specialty Equipment Market Association convention in Las Vegas, where Foose was hosting his TV show. In fact, plans for the F-150 Foose Edition were discussed on the set at the table where he draws and plans custom treatments with guests. "He did with me what he does with the other people on his show," Poore said. "He says, Ben, what are you looking for in a truck'?" Poore says he wants a Ford street-rod truck. He wants Foose to take the FX2 and carry it even further in terms of a street-rod kind of look. Foose immediately starts to jot down information. "He starts to scribblin'," Poore said. "You can't talk to him without his hands starting to move. It's just amazing." Terms bounce around, such as "tough luxury" and "street-rod tough" -- keeping the toughness of the brand, but getting that street-rod look even more into it, Poore said. Foose asked where Ford wants to put the most concentration, on the interior or exterior. "Absolutely the exterior," Poore said. Then Foose asked about the size of wheels Ford wants. "At least 20s," Poore said. "Let's try to go for 22s," Foose said, and Poore agreed. The wheels are forged, polished Foose wheels wrapped by P275/45R-22 tires. They are shrouded by flared fenders that contribute to a lowered look. The show truck is lowered about 1.5 inches (may be different on production model) and Foose creates an effect to make it look even lower. Instead of merely fitting a chin spoiler up front, he puts the body kit with custom rocker panels all the way around the vehicle. Enhancing this grounded WHEELS Motor Matters photo Leo Cummings bought his 1968 Pontiac Bonneville during a car show in 2000. 1968 Pontiac Bonneville becomes his land yacht By VERN PARKER Motor Matters More than 40 years ago Leo Cummings purchased a brand-new 1966 Pontiac Ventura. He had looked at the 9-inch-longer Bonneville model, but decided that a young man would be more comfortable in a Ventura. By the time the 20th century had run its course, Cummings had changed his opinion. While attending the annual antique car extravaganza in Hershey, Pa., in the autumn of 2000, he saw a wide-track 1968 Pontiac Bonneville two-door hardtop with a beige vinyl top and a gold-colored interior. The rest of the car was painted what General Motors designers called Primavera Beige. "I knew in seconds that car was for me," Cummings says. "I think it was the color combination." He spent hours examining the pristine car in hopes of finding a flaw that would prevent him from buying it because he was not prepared to make the purchase. "I kept walking away," he says. "It was the luxury of a Bonneville that sucked me in." The car had been driven only 34,220 miles. Try as he might, he could find nothing to prevent him from becoming the next owner. "This is a got to have car,'" he convinced himself. The next week was spent gathering money for the Pontiac and arranging transportation to Strasburg, Pa., where the seller kept the car. The following Saturday Cummings was in Strasburg to retrieve his car. "Getting that car was like getting a brand-new car," he says enthusiastically. "I was as happy as a pig in mud." The 124-inch wheelbase under the Bonneville, which measures 18 feet, 7.5 inches nose to tail, delivered a boulevard ride for Cummings all the way home to Springfield, Va. "Every time I get in that car, I feel good," Cummings says. Papers that came with the car indicate that the first owner bought the 4,054-pound Pontiac in Lenoir, N.C., and took it home to Hickory, N.C. Years later the car ended up with an antique car broker in Annville, Pa., before the man in Strasburg acquired it and sold it to Cummings. Records show the Bonneville, one of 29,598 such models built, has always been well maintained. The base price of the Pontiac when new was $3,592. Cummings says certain features on the car brought back memories he had forgotten, such as the seat locks on all two-door cars to keep the seatback in position during an accident. On the back of the front seat was a release lever to permit the seat to swivel forward for access to the back seat. Those levers, Cummings recalls, were called "Nader knobs," named for the safety advocate of the era. Virtually every aspect of the interior Cummings calls "gold," from the headliner on down to the carpeting. As a Bonneville, the car was loaded with convenience features and accessories including AM/FM radio, power brakes, cruise control, power antenna, power steering, power windows, air conditioning, day/night mirror, wire wheel covers, rocker panel molding, deluxe steering wheel, rear window defogger, remote-control mirrors, automatic transmission, color-matching floor mats and reverberation rear speaker. While seated behind the deluxe three-spoke steering wheel mounted on an energy-absorbing steering column, Cummings has a commanding view of all the instrumentation, as well as the long engine hood. The speedometer stops counting at 120 mph, and Cummings confidently reports, "It will do 100." Beneath the engine hood is a 400-cubic-inch V-8 that produces a very healthy 340 horsepower. He says the car is capable of delivering gas mileage similar to that of smaller cars if he should care to try. In 2002 Cummings drove to a Pontiac convention in Charlestown, W.Va. On that trip, he says, "I got 19 miles per gallon if I kept my speed under 65 mph." The odometer has only recently counted the 45,000th mile the Pontiac has been driven. In lieu of the boat he has always wanted, Cummings says, "This is my land yacht." For your car to become the subject of the Classic Classics column, send a photo (frontal 3/4 view) plus brief details and phone number to Vern Parker, 2221 Abbotsford Drive, Vienna, VA 22181. Only photos of good quality will be considered.